Status: U Return-Path: Received: from web12703.mail.yahoo.com ([216.136.173.240]) by niles.mail.mindspring.net (Earthlink Mail Service) with SMTP id tph5bm.nhh.37kbi1o for ; Fri, 7 Sep 2001 05:37:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <20010907093755.61195.qmail@web12703.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [208.191.148.16] by web12703.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Fri, 07 Sep 2001 02:37:55 PDT Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 02:37:55 -0700 (PDT) From: MPCgram Subject: MPCGram 429/3 To: MPCGram@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ============================================== MPC Gram ============================================== Covering the Entire World of Military Numismatics ----------------------------------------------- Series 002-Number 429 Thurski September 8, 2001 Collecting Philippine Guerrilla Notes When I first started collecting Philippine Guerrilla Currency, I corresponded regularly with the guru of Guerrilla Currency, C. M. "Neil"  Neilsen.  Neil was one of the early collectors of military currency and was there when the stuff was being used. He was a member of the Merchant Marines as a very young man during World War II and sailed extensively through the South Pacific during and after the war.   Contrary to most of us that used scrip in exotic places and saved only a few pieces or passed on saving any at all, Neil went out of his way to not only save, but accumulated and studied every different type of money he could lay his hands on.  His stories of how he almost missed his ship because he was off trying to get a chit book from an organization that was miles away from his port of call, or about walking down the streets of Manila which were littered with Japanese Invasion Currency after the allies re-occupied the city never failed to keep you on the edge of your seat.  Guerrilla currency however was one of his real passions.  He not only collected the notes by varieties, of which there were many, but he went on to collect them by serial number to determine print runs or anything else that he might be able to glean from the notes.  His letters always included information on his latest project, whether it was plating the typewritten notes of Apayao or determining the serial number ranges for the various paper varieties used on series of notes.      I'll never forget one of those projects in particular.  When I was stationed in the Philippines, I was actively chasing Guerrilla notes and was able to pick up a pretty nice supply of them.  Monthly trips to the Sunday Manila Coin Club Meeting were very productive as the local dealers were anxious to make a buck from G.I. from Clark.  One Sunday a small group of 30 to 40 1944 Iloilo Treasury Certificates came my way.  The notes had seen a lot of circulation and were in pretty bad shape, grading about VG if you graded very liberally.  But I hadn't seen a lot of these notes, and the dealer didn't want an arm and a leg for them so I bought them.  If you are not familiar with the note, look it up in The Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Volume 1.  The notes are Pick number PS  334, 335 and 337.  These are not very spectacular notes,  but again, these are notes issued during the time of a wartime emergency.  The back of the note has an authorization date of March 2, 1944 which is just over 7 months before MacArthur made his landing at Leyte.  The note also says that it was authorized by the Governor of Panay and Romblon.   A repeated "m" was used as a border device on the face and back of these notes.  Some of the dealers in the Philippines called this the Grino note because of the prominent signature of the Acting Treasurer Juan Grino.  Although the note was difficult find in the Philippines, it appeared to have a rather large print run as serial numbers exceeding 500,000 were known.  This was a very high run for one of these notes.  Another thing that was of interest on this note was that each note included the capital letter "I" followed by a lower case letter in the upper left and lower right quadrants of the face-- example "Ix".  At first I thought these were plate position letters similar to those that show up on our dollar bill, but when I got this small hoard, I realized there were just too many different letters. In one of my letters to Neil, I asked him what he could tell me about these letters.  He went on to tell me that it was one of his projects that he had not yet completed, but those letters were trying to tell us something.  He said that the lower case letter changed every 5000 notes and that it wasn't an alphabetical change, i.e.  a,b,c,d,e... but more random.  He felt that it could be a statement or message.  He suggested making a chart with a space for an entry every 5000 serial numbers.  We entered the letters that I had in my little hoard and the ones that he had.  We continued to add any new letter/serial number combination we could find.  Our little chart began to look like one of these puzzles in the morning paper.  A few letters and a bunch of dashes waiting to have letters filled in on them.      To this day, not all the letters have been filled into that chart, but enough have been so that a message that reads '' T CONFESSOR GOVERNOR OF PANAY AND ROMBLON IS A NATIONAL HERO WHO FOUGHT FOR LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY MAY GOD BLESS AND PRESERVE HIM..." emerges. These folks used this statement as an anti-counterfeiting device. As I have said before, isn't it interesting what secrets banknotes hold.  If only they could tell us.... "Entering Germany: 1944-1949" by Tony Vaccaro, published by TASCHEN, Koln, Germany, 192 pages, photographs, US$29.95. Reviewed by Howard A. Daniel III In the August 2001 issue of "Army" magazine that I receive because I am a member of the Association of the US Army, has a review of this book by General Sullivan, former Army Chief of Staff and President of the AUSA. His review was very enthusiastic and the pictures in it are apparently very representative of the time. I am thinking that there are very likely pictures of financial instruments shown or described in this book, but if not, it will be a very accurate description of the time when many of what we collect were used. I do not yet have a source for this book, but it is likely available from www.Amazon.com. If you buy a copy of this book, please send a numismatic review of it. ============================================== Editorial ----------------------------------------------- We continue to fight the computer spirits. This Gram was created with a "new" computer. First, we hope that we will not have the frequent crashes that have plagues us for many weeks. Next, we hope that there will not be any unexpected consequences of the change! Let us know if there is a significant difference in the gram as you receive it. Wish us luck! ============================================== Mail Call ----------------------------------------------- Dear Gram, I need some info. How many sets of 691/701 notes were sold to benefit USO, I think I saw 200 in the gram, or was it less. Larry G Dear Larry, I think that there were 50 sets, but hopefully one of the insiders will come forward and answer this question. Editor Gramster, Even after my word that I would give an outstanding report of the Virginia State Convention, it is still not listed. Before I am bombarded with threats of another succession, please list it. Warm regards, COL Steve & Big Jake. PS. On the military coin issue. The original purpose was to use as a challenge coin of unit members. If challenged, by a member of your unit, and you did not have your coin in your pocket, then you were required to buy the challenger a cold sarsaparilla. In Special Forces, we used them for all kinds of bag shish. Then latter a bunch of sorry leg units started using them for something else so they could try to imitate what esprit de corps we had. Now they even have berets to try to imitate us further. How the army has changed, not all for the better. Dear Steve, Oops. Editor ================================================ Departments --------------------------------------------------- Calendar of events for Gramsters maintained by Howard Daniel, John Wilson and Gram staff, last updated August 17, 2001 ---------------------------------------------------- Calendar of events for Gramsters maintained by Howard Daniel, John Wilson and Gram staff, last updated August 17, 2001 ---------------------------------------------------- Calendar of events for Gramsters maintained by Howard Daniel lll, John & Nancy Wilson and Gram staff ---------------------------------------------------- August 23-26, 2001 - CSNS Fall Convention hosted by the MSNS in Dearborn, MI, Auction by NTL/Scotsman Coins, Hyatt Regency Dearborn August 23-25, 2001 - New England Coin Expo, Holiday Inn, Mansfield, MA, 130 tables August 25-26, 2001 - Golden State Coin Show, CSNS 109th Convention & NASC Masonic Temple Arcadia, CA August 31-Sept 1-2, 2001 - Ohio State Coin Show, Columbus Ohio Host CNS/COINS, Marriott North September 13 - 16, 2001 - Strasburg Currency and Stock & Bond Show, Lancaster Host Hotel, Lancaster, PA.,100 Booths, Exhibits and Educational Programs, Auction by: R. M. Smythe & Co., Inc., Contact Kevin Foley (414) 421-3498 September 15 - 16, 2001 - Red Rose Coin Club 43rd Annual Fall Show, Lancaster, PA., Exhibits CPMX, Chicago Feb 28- Mar 3, 2002 - Contact Kevin Foley, Chairman, Lyn Knight auction of Leo May collection March 2002 8-10 - MPCFest III [reservations in order received: Guido Crapanzano, Harold Kroll, Larry Smulczenski, Gary "Got any fours" Hicks, Tom Warburton, David Seelye, Jack Lippincot, Phil Goldstein, Warner Talso, Nich Schrier, Tom Koch, Mark Watson, Bill Yanchick, Fred Schwan {running total 14}] W.W.II numismatics seminar at ANA Summer Seminar, July 2002 -Session I (Sunday, June 30 through Thursday, July 4, 2002) -Session II (Sunday, July 7 through Thursday, July 11)--------------------------------------------------- Donations are now being accepted for scholarships to the 2002 "Military Money" course at the 2002 ANA Summer Seminar. Inquiries and donations should be sent to: Military Numismatists c/o Marcus Turner 8103 East US Highway 36 Suite 163 Avon, IN 46123 Donors to 2002 Scholarship Fund Steve Feller Harold Kroll R. A. Medina Guido Crapanzano David Seelye Leo May Warner Talso ==================================================== Post/Base Exchange (PX/BX/NEX) Dump your dupes! Your classified advertisement for items for sale will be run here for free. Send your ads to the gram. This service is for everyone, most humble dealer or most advanced collector. The point is to make the gram more interesting. Send in a list of items for sale and we will list them here in the gram. In all cases confirm your order via email first. FOR SALE Series 661 $5.00 GEM Crisp Unc $25.00 insured postpaid. Series 481 $0.25 1st printing Crisp UNC $60.00 insured postpaid. Series 681 $0.50 Gem Crisp UNC, fresh from pack $20.00 insured postpaid. coinman@rochester.rr.com WANTED Collectors may submit lists of items wanted for their collections for listing here. Dealers and collectors who have these items are then encouraged to list them or sale in the above section. This is a trial, if you like it, send your list. =================================================== Staff: publisher and editor: Fred Schwan - MPCGram@Yahoo.com; assistant editor - Phil Goldstein IWANTMYMPC@aol.com Tuesday columnist Joe Boling – JoeBoling@aol.com Thurski columnist Larry “Ski” Smulczenski –skifla@prodigy.net critic: Harold Kroll - MPCKid@AOL.com; index manager: Ed Beaman webmaster & technical advisor: Doug Bell - (Wiz): doug@papermoneyworld.net; The Boss: Judy Schwan ===== MPC Gram is published by BNR Press and papermoneyworld.com as a free service to the community of military money collectors. Your suggestions, criticisms, complaints, editorial contributions, letters, and even praise are very welcome. The entire contents including linked illustrations are copyright protected by the publishers. In the case of contributors, the copyright is protected on behalf of the creators. Please send all correspondence regarding the gram to MPCgram@yahoo.com. Thank you very much for your participation. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com